Thai Curry Chicken Noodle Soup

We have a pretty serious infatuation with both curry and Thai soups around here. The first meal G tried to "woo" me with was Tom Kha Gai (Thai Coconut Curry Soup) and it is our fav still to this day . When I came across this recipe for a Thai Coconut Curry Noodle Soup from the Sweethome blog I knew we needed to give it a try.

Sadly it's very winter like around these parts still. It has snowed 2 times in the last two weeks, not very typical for the Pacific Northwest but it is what is! And what it has been is... COLD. Soup was in order to warm us up.

I started by pulling everything together.

I decided this was a perfect opportunity to use the new Le Creuset French Oven that we won from being one of the top 5 finalists in the Johnsonville Chili Cook off. ( Bummed we didn't win first place but very excited to have made the top 5.)

I was also excited to have an opportunity to use our Kaffir lime leaves that I had froze last time. They aren't easy to find around here so when we do we freeze what we don't use for future use.

Since this was a mid-week, school night I went the rotisserie chicken route. I first shredded some chicken.

I then started with some cream from the coconut milk, cilantro stems and the curry paste. YES, I went heavy on the curry paste. Can't be spicy enough for me.

Then I focused on some of the flavors that I love about Thai food and the freshness they bring to any dish.

The soup came together incredibly easy and looked fantastic from the start.

It was spicy, comforting and overall fantastic. We loved the addition of the noodles. Although we heed this warning: use far less rice noodles than the recipe calls for. We used a package and they totally absorbed the liquid of the soup. We added more chicken stock and all was fine, especially since I had already went far too heavy on the curry paste the extra chicken broth really helped cool it down a bit.

Super Good Stuff. This will become a "frequent flyer" at our dinner table without a doubt.


Recipe from Sweethome:

Thai Coconut Curry Soup

This Recipe is part of the One Pot Wonders Recipes from Michael Smith Menu

Ingredients
Two 14 oz (398 mL) cans of premium coconut milk
1 heaping tablespoon (15 mL) of Thai curry paste
Roots of 1 bunch of cilantro, rinsed well
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
2 cups (500 mL) of chicken broth
1 carrot, shredded
4 or 5 lime leaves
2 stalks of lemon grass, halved lengthwise, woody leaves removed
2 tablespoons (30 mL) of fish sauce
Zest and juice of 2 limes
A small knob of frozen ginger
A handful of bean sprouts
One 8 oz (225 g) package of rice noodles
Leaves of 1 bunch of cilantro, rinsed well
2 or 3 green onions, thinly sliced
A sprinkle or two of salt or soy sauce

Directions
1. Scoop the thick coconut cream from the top of just one of the cans into a large stockpot set over a medium-high heat. Melt the cream, add the curry paste and stir for a few minutes until they begin to sizzle.

2. Add the cilantro roots and chicken and sauté until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the coconut juice from the first can and all the contents of the second can along with the chicken broth, carrot, lime leaves, lemon grass, fish sauce and lime zest and juice. Grate the frozen ginger into the broth with a Microplane grater or standard box grater. Simmer for 20 minutes or so.

4. Stir in the bean sprouts. Add the rice noodles, gently pushing them beneath the surface of the broth. Turn off the heat and let stand until the noodles soften, about 5 minutes. Rice noodles don’t need to simmer like pasta to cook; they simply need to rehydrate in the hot liquid.

5. Stir in most of the cilantro leaves. Remove the lemon grass stalks. Taste and season with a touch more salt (or soy sauce) as needed. Ladle into large bowls and garnish with the green onions and remaining cilantro leaves.

Serves 4